Foreign Reserves recorded a $5.7 million rise over April

Official foreign reserves held by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga (NRBT) rose by $5.7 million over the month of April 2017 to $371.7 million, equivalent to 6.8 months of imports. Over the past year, the official foreign reserves rose by $48.8 million.

OFFICIAL FOREIGN RESERVES(millions of pa'anga)

Level

Changes

Ration of official foreign reserves to imports i (months)

Month

12 Months

2015

Nov

319.0

3.2

51.1

7.1

Dec

327.8

8.8

34.2

7.1

2016

Jan

326.3

-1.5

39.1

7.1

Feb

328.5

2.2

47.2

7.1

Mar

317.3

-11.2

47.1

6.7

Apr

322.9

5.6

50.8

6.7

May

330.7

7.8

48.9

6.8

Jun

354.9

24.2

65.2

7.2

Jul

367.4

12.5

64.8

7.4

Aug

366.3

-1.1

55.4

7.3

Sep

363.7

-2.6

52.0

7.1

Oct

367.0

3.3

51.2

7.2

Nov

360.9

-6.1

41.9

7.0

Dec

378.8

17.9

51.0

7.2

2017

Jan

380.8

2.0

54.5

7.2

Feb

377.7

-3.1

49.2

7.1

Mar

366.0

-11.7

48.7

6.7

Apr

371.7

5.7

48.8

6.8

Source: National Reserve Bank of Tonga

i - Method of calculation changed in February 2017 to include imports of both goods and services (previous method used imports of goods only).